Happy Birthday Swamiji !!

Bal-Mukund Chhote Philosopher Contest

Chhote Philosopher Contest is designed to: · Inspire youth to develop their creativity, writing skills and analytical abilities. · Encourage study of Vedic culture and instill pride in it. · Locate talent amongst youth and help build their confidence

Click here to view topics and other details

GROUP 1  Age: 5-7 yrs

GROUP 2  Age: 8-11 yrs

GROUP 3  Age: 12-15 yrs

Click for FREE registration  
Registration Closes on: Jan 31st, 2012
Last date for submission: Feb 15th, 2012

Bal-Mukund reaches the shores of England!

The Indian Consulate in UK has chosen the Bal-Mukund series of books for their program to introduce Hindu culture, tradition and religion to school students.

Color my Krishna !!

Contribution from Bal-Mukunds of Irving-TX

Krishna stories from little Bal-Mukunds !!

Krishna and Kaliya

By Yogini

One day Krishna went with his friends to the river Yamuna to play a game with ball.  As they were playing, the ball fell into the river.  Krishna’s friends asked him not to go into the river because the poisonous naag Kaliya.  Krishna climbed the tree of Kadamba and jumped into the river to get the ball.  Krishna found the ball in Kaliya’s lap.  Kaliya’s wife asked Krishna to leave and not to wake him.  Krishna said, “ I will only leave with the ball”.  Krishna took the ball and woke Kaliya. Kaliya got angry and tried to kill Krishna. Krishna defeated Kaliya and ask him to leave river Yamuna and go to the ocean.

Krishna

By Sakshi

This picture shows little Krishna

licking  butter that he stole from

the houses in Gokul. He was very

naughty. Krishna shared his butter

with his friends.

This is Krishna playing a sweet melody on his flute.

Krishna loved his flute.

Everyday people from Gokul used to listen.

It made the day for everyone.

Radha-Kund and Shyama-Kund

By Mini

One day Krishna with his friends went to the gopis. He said “I am a rightous person.” Radha and her friends Lalita and Vishaka said, “You killed a woman. How can you be rightous? You must bathe in the river Yamuna.” Krishna said, “I will bathe in all the rivers together, not only Yamuna.” Radha said, “See, what a foolish person you are? How can you do that?” Krishna made a big whole in the ground. Soon all the holy rivers came and filled the hole with water. “I can do that!” said Radha. She, Lalita and Vishaka began digging a hole. They didn’t get much progress. Krishna once said, “Do you need my help?” but Radha said, “No! We can do it ourselves!” Soon they dug the hole and then  got buckets of water from the Yamuna. They got tired and sat down. Krishna mercifully  put water in Radha’s hole. “I shall bathe in this river,” Said Krishna jumping into Radha’s lake. “I will call it Radha-kund!” “And I shall bathe in this one,” said Radha getting into Krishna’s lake. “I will call it Shyama-kund!” Then every day the friends played there.

Our festivals-Rakshya Bandhan !!

We just celebrated the festival of Rakhsya Bandhan. Do you know how it originated? If no, there is no need to worry. There is a chapter in "Bal-Mukund Festivals on India" book about Rakshya Bandhan. Here we are presenting to you an extract of it, but there is lot more to know about the festival for which you can flip through your own copy of the book. 

The Bhavishya Puran refers to a war between the celestial gods and the demons. The demon King Brutra was advancing and the gods led by Indra were on verge of defeat. Indra approached Brihaspati, the Guru of the celestial gods to find a solution to the situation. Brihaspati asked Indra to tie a sacred thread on his wrist while chanting sacred mantras on Shravan Purnima. Indra tied it on to his hand on the decided day. The power of the sacred thread called “Raksha” helped the celestial gods to victory. The tradition of tying the sacred thread has continued since then.

According to another story, the demon King Bali was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. Shree Vishnu was enchanted by his devotion and had taken up the task to guard his kingdom leaving his own abode in Vaikunth. Goddess Lakshmi desired Her Lord to be back in His abode. She went to Bali disguised as the wife of a priest, to seek refuge until Her husband came back. During the Shravan Poornima celebrations, Lakshmi tied the sacred thread to the King. Upon being asked what she wanted, She revealed who She was and why She was there. Having tied the sacred thread on her, the king felt obliged to help her, and requested the Lord to accompany Her. He sacrificed all he had for the Lord and his devoted wife.

Thus, the festival is also called Baleva that is Bali Raja's devotion to the Lord. Since then, it has been a tradition for brothers to invite sisters on Shravan Purnima for the thread tying ceremony, and offer them protection.

Another story relates to Yamraj and Yamuna. It is said that the Raksha Bandhan was a ritual followed by Lord Yamraj, the god of death and his sister Yamuna. Yamuna tied a rakhi to Yamraj. Yamraj was so moved by the serenity of the occasion that he declared that whoever gets a rakhi tied from his sister and promises her protection would become immortal.

Raksha Bandhan is also mentioned in Mahabharat. Lord Krishna advised Yudhishthir to perform the ceremony to protect himself and the army from the dangers of the war. It is said that Draupadi tied a rakhi to Lord Krishna. He felt bound by her sisterly love, and promised her protection.

Charity for Children

Bal-Mukund organized a free yoga and character building session for orphan children of Arya Bal Griha-New Delhi. BM T-shirt and stationery materials were also distributed to them at the occasion. More than 1100 children attended the program.

!! Two new feathers in Bal-Mukund's cap !!

Teach your kids while you learn the 

Essence of Hinduism

• What is Hinduism?
• What is there in Vedas?
• Concept of re-birth
• Significance of good & bad deeds
• Surrender to God

Philosophy of Vedas at your child's doorstep!!

 ****************************************************

Add a dash of color in your kids' life, gift them 

Bal-Mukund Painting Book

Krishna is blue and Radhey is white

Color them all and color them right

  

!! Two new feathers in Bal-Mukund's cap !! As a part of its character building program, Bal-Mukund is introducing two books. "Essence of Hinduism" is a complete and simple guide to the basic principles of Hindu religion. "BM Painting Book" is a fun book for children to recognize important characters and stories related to Vedic culture. 

!! Book your copy NOW !!

Click Here to purchase online (USA only)

Complete spiritual family weekend at Fresno!!

Spiritual retreat with Swamiji has concluded at Fresno.  The retreat was, in a true sense, an unmatched opportunity for the spiritual aspirants to learn, practice & immerse themselves in the infinite knowledge and bliss of Divine wisdom and love. <Click to read the testimonials of participants>

It was an opportunity not only for the adults but also for the kids. The complete spiritual family weekend was designed in such a way that while the adults were engaging their body, mind and soul in devotion, children of the family were happily putting their energy in various creative activities.  These activities specially designed under Bal-Mukund: Playground for Vedic Wisdom program of JKYog aims at cultivating the young minds with correct ideas and values derived from our ancient Vedic culture.

Click Here to enroll for next retreat at:

Danbury, CT-July 2nd to 4th, 2011

Trinity, TX-Sept 3rd to 5th, 2011

One lovely adventure with Krishna!!

Tia Vasudeva from Bal-Mukund center, New Jersey, USA has written a sweet little email to dear Swamiji along with AWESOME stories about her friend Krishna.  She has also sent beautiful drawings.  

Tia, we really appreciate your contributions and are sharing them with all.

First her email:

Radhey Radhey Swamiji,
My name is Tia Vasudeva and I live in NJ.  I am 7 years old and study in 1st grade.  I came to your retreat last year.  I also read the Bal  Mukund books that my Dad bought for me.  Retreat was lot of fun.  We also went to Mangarh Dham last year to meet Maharaj Ji.
I wrote some stories about Krishna.  He is my best friend.  I wanted to share it with you.  My Dad helped me put these stories and pictures on the computer.
Will you please come to my home when you are in NJ this year ?
Tia Vasudeva 

 Now the stories.  There are two of them:

1. One Lovely Adventure

One day I dreamed that I came to a place called Govardhan.  At Govardhan I saw a big hill called Govardhan hill.  I went up Govardhan hill, it had a thousand steps. Once I came to the top I saw an enormous statue that had the shape of Krishna.  I went inside it and first saw many people and then I went more in and then I saw the real dust of Krishna's feet and Radha's feet and Guruji's feet.  I went deep inside and I saw a glittery mango.  I went so deep inside that I saw a glowing flute and the flute was Krishna's flute.  I stopped and picked it up.  I went really deep inside and I saw Krishna.  As soon as I came to Krishna I gave him his flute.  He thanked me very much because the Gopis hid his flute and if he didn't play his flute the place will get dark.  We started to play and tell jokes and eat snacks.  Krishna played his flute and my heart melted.  He was so kind that I wanted to take him home.  I told Krishna I want to take him home.  he said, "I will only come if you give me butter." So I gave him butter and then he came to my house.  It was a great joy to have him around.

2. The best day ever

Yay it's the best day ever!

One morning the gopis and the gwalbals woke up.  They started packing and dressing for the day. It was a nice sunny day.  The gwalbals' names were Subala, madhu, Krishna, Tia, Balram, Chandra. The gopis' names were Lalita, Vishakha, Radha, Tisha.

Krishna brought lunch.  Subala brought breakfast, madhu got yummy snacks.  Tia brought pearls for Krishna's favorite cows.  Balram got dinner.  They started taking the cows for a drink in the Yamuna.  Then they ate breakfast.  The breakfast was cereal.  Then they took the cows for a long walk. 

After that they ate lunch.  The lunch was roti and dal chawal.  Then they took little nap.  They ate snack after that.  The snack was mango and water melon.  Then they put pearls on the cows.

Then they ate dinner.  The dinner was khichadi.  Then they went home and slept.